s tribute of the brave to a
trusted leader.

His victorious troops went wild at the sight of him. Above the crash and
roar of battle rose the shouts of the Southerners:

"Hurrah for Lee!"

"Lee!"

"Lee!"

From lip to lip the thrilling name leaped until the wounded and the
dying turned their eyes to see and raised their feeble voices:

"Lee!--Lee!--Lee!"

It was at this moment that he received the note from Jackson announcing
that he was badly wounded. With the shouts of his men ringing in his
ears, he drew his pencil and wrote across the pommel of his saddle:

"GENERAL: I have just received your note informing me that you are
wounded. I cannot express my regret at the occurrence. Could I have
directed events, I should have chosen, for the good of the country,
to be disabled in your stead.

"I congratulate you upon the victory which is due to your skill and
energy.

"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"R. E. LEE,
"GENERAL."

It was quick, bloody work next day for the Southerner to turn and spring
on Sedgwick with the ferocity of a tiger, crush and hurl his battered
and bleeding corps back on the river.

Under cover of a storm General Couch, in command of Hooker's army,
retreated across the Rappahannock. The blue and grey picket lines that
night were so close to each other the men could talk freely. The
Southern boys were chaffing the Northerners over their oft repeated
defeats. Through the darkness a Yankee voice drawled:

"Ah, Johnnie, shut up--you make us tired! You're not so much as you
think you are. Swap Generals with us and we'll come over and lick hell
out of you!"

A silence fell over the boasting ones and then the listening Yankee
heard a low voice chuckle to his comrade:

"I'm damned if they wouldn't, too!"

When the grey dawn broke through the storm they began to bury the dead
and care for the wounded. The awful struggle had ended at last.

The Northern army had lost seventeen thousand men, the Southerners
thirteen thousand.

It was a great victory for the South, but a few more such victories and
there would be none of her brave boys left to tell the story.

John Vaughan's company had been detailed to help in cleaning the field.
The day before, on Sunday morning, they had eaten their breakfast seated
on the ground among hundreds of dead bodies whose odor poisoned the air.
It is needless to say, J